Black leaders offer up ideas at conference

Ransey O’Daniel speaks during the African-Americans Building an Agenda for Reconciliation at Cornerstone Full Gospel Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa on Saturday. The purpose of the conference was to discuss and develop a community agenda for blacks.

Dusty Compton / Tuscaloosa News

By Eryn PhillipsSpecial to The Tuscaloosa News

Published: Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 10:47 p.m.

TUSCALOOSA | Local leaders, church members and concerned citizens on Saturday debated ways to develop an agenda to address problems in the black community.

The African-Americans Building an Agenda for Reconciliation conference, held at Cornerstone Full Gospel Baptist Church, also included a voter registration drive.

The Rev. Ransey O’Daniel, who organized the event, said that the goal of the conference was to fight hopelessness.

“The black community is on fire with hatred,” O’Daniel said. “More young black men and women are in jails instead of schools, and crack and violence are running rampant in our communities.”

The conference was divided into three panels. The speakers offered ideas and opinions on three topics:

n How to bring reconciliation in light of nihilism

n What do we do now under present conditions?

n Where do we go from here, chaos or community?

Panelists agreed that to move forward and make change, people must first learn to love themselves and teach children right from wrong.

The Rev. Matthew Wilson said he believes society has taught blacks that they mean little to the rest of the world.

“I believe that we have been taught to systematically hate ourselves and it brings disconnect from our culture,” Wilson said. “When we are taught that we don’t equate with another race, it leads to kids taking up bullets instead of books and gangs instead of good work.”

Alice Lathan, assistant pastor at The Fresh Grove Anointing Church, said that most of the problems blacks face today can be traced to their parents.

“So many times, we don’t prepare our children the right way,” Lathan said, “We need to come together to prepare our kids so they have the opportunities to go to college and be whatever they want to be.”

Panel members also discussed the merits of church-based parenting and mentoring programs.

The Rev. William McDaniel, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church, said that the power of God and the power of education hold the keys to solving a lot of today’s problems.

“We need to get back to God and allow him to have control of our hearts and our communities,” McDaniel said. “All young people have the opportunity to get a good education in America. The University of Alabama is right down the road, and we need to be encouraging our young people to take advantage of it.”

McDaniel believes that members of the black community “must execute all of these ideas that have been brought to the table instead of just talking about it.”

In the end, panel members agreed that in order to move forward, the black community must first stop moving backward.

“I don’t think we can completely separate chaos from the community,” said the Rev. Jerry Seay, pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church. “We are going forward, but we need to continue turning our communities into cities, keeping in mind that cities are where needs can be met.”

<p>TUSCALOOSA | Local leaders, church members and concerned citizens on Saturday debated ways to develop an agenda to address problems in the black community. </p><p>The African-Americans Building an Agenda for Reconciliation conference, held at Cornerstone Full Gospel Baptist Church, also included a voter registration drive.</p><p>The Rev. Ransey O'Daniel, who organized the event, said that the goal of the conference was to fight hopelessness.</p><p>“The black community is on fire with hatred,” O'Daniel said. “More young black men and women are in jails instead of schools, and crack and violence are running rampant in our communities.”</p><p>The conference was divided into three panels. The speakers offered ideas and opinions on three topics:</p><p>n How to bring reconciliation in light of nihilism</p><p>n What do we do now under present conditions?</p><p>n Where do we go from here, chaos or community?</p><p>Panelists agreed that to move forward and make change, people must first learn to love themselves and teach children right from wrong. </p><p>The Rev. Matthew Wilson said he believes society has taught blacks that they mean little to the rest of the world.</p><p>“I believe that we have been taught to systematically hate ourselves and it brings disconnect from our culture,” Wilson said. “When we are taught that we don't equate with another race, it leads to kids taking up bullets instead of books and gangs instead of good work.”</p><p>Alice Lathan, assistant pastor at The Fresh Grove Anointing Church, said that most of the problems blacks face today can be traced to their parents.</p><p>“So many times, we don't prepare our children the right way,” Lathan said, “We need to come together to prepare our kids so they have the opportunities to go to college and be whatever they want to be.”</p><p>Panel members also discussed the merits of church-based parenting and mentoring programs.</p><p>The Rev. William McDaniel, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church, said that the power of God and the power of education hold the keys to solving a lot of today's problems.</p><p>“We need to get back to God and allow him to have control of our hearts and our communities,” McDaniel said. “All young people have the opportunity to get a good education in America. The University of Alabama is right down the road, and we need to be encouraging our young people to take advantage of it.”</p><p>McDaniel believes that members of the black community “must execute all of these ideas that have been brought to the table instead of just talking about it.”</p><p>In the end, panel members agreed that in order to move forward, the black community must first stop moving backward.</p><p>“I don't think we can completely separate chaos from the community,” said the Rev. Jerry Seay, pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church. “We are going forward, but we need to continue turning our communities into cities, keeping in mind that cities are where needs can be met.”</p>